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Blogs by Julius J.E. Thompson
Is finding a literary agent an impossible dream? 8/11/2011 4:41:49 PM
The trails and frustrations of finding a literary agent for your book! Sitting in front of my computer slapping my head from side to side...
Finding an agent is so difficult that at times you want to slap your head from side to side and commit physical harm to your body.
Maybe, if I slap hard enough my brain will work in overdrive to figure out a way to make agents interested in my fourth novel: Purple Phantoms.
I feel like Don Quixote of La Mancha in chasing the Impossible Dream.
What a process!
I have the following qualifications:
***Three published novels: A Brownstone in Brooklyn, Philly Style and Philly Profile and Ghost of Atlanta
***2007 and 2011 Georgia of the Year nominations.
***My third novel, Ghost of Atlanta, is a finalist in a National Book Contest!
*** Ghost of Atlanta is on the book shelves of Barnes & Nobles and is selling at a good pace. That’s right it’s on the book shelves of the famous book seller!
***I’ve been a presenter at the 2009 AJC-Decatur Book Festival in Decatur, Georgia, 2010 Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville, Virginia and the 2010 Buffalo Book Fair in Buffalo, New York.
*** I work hard at building a platform for my books and have crashed many barriers and I will work even harder to crash many more barriers to reaching my goal of becoming a well-known author.
***I'm a creative writing instructor at Evening and Emory in Atlanta, Georgia.
Yet, all this seems invisible to agents.
I work hard at writing my novels and I'm extremely dedicated in marketing my novels.
However, frustration sets in at times and erodes my enthusiasm.
I read on agent Linda Roghaar's website a comment that is an aspirin that eases the pain:
"Don't take rejection personally. More often than not a rejection is not about your writing; rather it's that you've gotten it to the wrong person at the wrong time. Look at the package critically and send it out to another."
Yet the agent front is silent for me...totally void of a positive response.
I've followed all the rules, my three published books are well received and have garnered national honors and recognition, but I keep getting the following form letter:
Dear Author:
Thank you so much for sending the (Blank) Literary Agency your query. We'd like to apologize for the impersonal nature of this standard rejection letter. Rest assured that we do read every query letter carefully and, unfortunately, this project is not right for us. Because this business is so subjective and opinions vary widely, we recommend that you pursue other agents. After all, it just takes one "yes" to find the right match.
Good luck with all your publishing endeavors.
Well, I'll just keep sending out query letters and hopefully I'll find that one agent who will say "Yes."
Ooh...my head is still hurting from my palms constantly slapping my head from side to side!
